The Moon and Liverpool

Jodrell Bank is always good for a visit, and the grandchildren, astronauts of the future, had a great time there.

Martha later commented that the spacesuit wasn’t particularly comfortable. So let’s hope that when they do pay a visit to the Moon, the attire is more cosy.

Meanwhile, Liesel took her Mom to the coffee morning over in Didsbury. I met up with them at the pub after a very pleasant walk along the fast-flowing river. In the sunshine.

The birds were enjoying the day, but there was no sign of a heron today. I had a cup of coffee before Liesel kindly drove me home again.

What else has Liesel been up to at home? Making bees via the medium of crochet. Sometimes, the colour of the yarn available doesn’t match the instructions, so she invents brand new species.

Or so we thought. Just a few days later, I happened to see this online and I thought, Liesel’s well ahead of the game.

Of course, these blue-banded bees are native to Australia and all I want to do now is go to Australia to see them in the flesh, in the wild.

Early one morning, Liesel and I wandered over to Fletcher Moss where we were the first customers at the café. Halfway through April and Spring still hasn’t come in fully. Its foot is in the door, but the cold wind from the north is still a reminder that Winter just doesn’t want to end.

In technical news, I took my phone to the local tech shop to have its battery replaced. That went well, my phone no longer goes from 15% charge to 0% in a few seconds. But, the fingerprint sensor no longer works. I returned to the shop and it seems the problem can only be resolved by soldering something deep in the bowels of the phone. Meanwhile, I have to type in a 4-digit passcode every time I want to use the phone, wasting almost a whole second on each occasion. Nightmare.

Northenden probably isn’t the most exciting place in the world, but one day, Palatine Road ground to a halt when it was blocked by a crane from the local building site.

There aren’t many puffins in Northenden, so it was a delight to see this one. I confess, it wasn’t here in real life, it was on the screen where I watched an Open University presentation and discussion about the TV series Wild Isles. This was the reason I didn’t go to the choir rehearsal this week. Actually, I’m not sure it’s for me, so I’m still thinking about whether to pursue that particular activity.

In another minor contribution to my fifteen minutes of fame, I appeared on Instagram in an advert for Boxx2Boxx.

This is the Wednesday walking group and Lois brought us our coffees and teas with a smile on her face and a spring in her step. And no spillages.

Liesel and I last visited Liverpool in 2009, I know, we should go more often. Well, we paid a visit this week, not to the city centre, but to Speke. We parked up at Speke Hall and joined a group for a tour of the childhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. I was hoping for a Magical Mystery Tour bus, but it was just an everyday 12-seater.

Both houses are presented as they would have been experienced by the young Beatles-to-be, including candlewick bedspreads very similar to what my sister and I were brought up with. The guides were very informative and, I assume, have to be a bit of a Beatles fan to go for those jobs.

We weren’t really allowed to take pictures inside the houses, but I couldn’t resist this crockery. It took me back to my first Saturday job at the Co-op, when amongst other duties, it was my job to unpack crockery from the crates it was delivered in. This was before the days of bubble-wrap, and the packing material was straw. Can you imagine the sneezing fits I had unpacking the plates and cups and saucers?

Paul’s house doesn’t have a blue plaque because he’s still alive. And, apparently, in any case, the blue plaque scheme has been discontinued in Liverpool, which is a shame. Nobody was brave enough to have a go on the piano in Paul’s front room, the room in which he and John wrote some of their first songs.

The bus took us back to Speke Hall and after a quick coffee and lunch, we had a look around the old house. There was an informative guide in each room, and some, in costume, haunted the house and told their own stories.

The ceiling ornamentation in some rooms reminded us of just how dull and boring the ceiling is in our luxury apartment.

The drive back home in the sunshine was uneventful, though we did have to cross back over the Mersey Gateway Bridge. The signs told us that we had until midnight the following day to pay the tolls. We didn’t know there were any tolls in England other than the M6, so that was a revelation. And lots of pressure not to forget to pay the fee in a timely manner.

Liesel and Leslie went off to the WI knitting group in the evening while I supported our local theatre here in Northenden. The presentation on Edward Watkin was good, the local lad did well for the people of Manchester, he was behind the Great Central Railway and he had a hand in establishing modern day Canada. He started digging the first channel tunnel, but didn’t get far.

I couldn’t resist buying the book, written by Geoff Scargill so I’ve added that to the TBR pile.

The radio show this week featured songs that include at least an element of Whistling. So, if you like whistling along to songs, catch up here.